For once, it’s me delivering a note to you, readers, but my editor is a bit busy preparing a few things on her end, seeing as the end of the month is nearly upon us. I’m not one for lengthy housekeeping notes myself, so I’ll keep this brief.

Throughout the month of November, our ask box will be closed. I know. I apologize, dear readers, but this is for a number of reasons. First, there is the fact that the Alola Regional Dex is due to be released in the middle of the month, and I plan on doing a special series of entries just on Alola pokémon a few days afterwards. However, some of you may consider these to be “spoilers,” as you plan your own journeys through Alola and would prefer to be surprised by what pokémon you find there. Thus, in anticipation for the excitement you may be experiencing, we’d like to wait a week or two before opening the ask box, just in case we receive asks concerning Alola pokémon. (Yes, we also realize that some Alola pokémon have already been “spoiled” in previous asks, to which we apologize sincerely.)

Second and more importantly, my editor will not be available to check my responses, so all material you’ll be seeing throughout the month of November will be prepared entries and ask responses. We will, in other words, still be accepting asks up until October 31, and we will still post responses to those asks throughout the next month.

What will my editor be doing in the meantime? Well, readers, glad you asked! From what I understand, she will be participating in National Novel Writing Month, during which she will be writing slash fanfiction between the Professor and the Maestro, the titular lead and the main villain of the science-fiction crime drama, The Professor Evolves Eight Times. She tells me she has no intention of posting said fanfiction, to which I apologize. But rest assured, she will definitely be busy writing slash fanfiction.

It is not slash fanfiction. It is a long-form transformative literary piece exploring the interactions between canonical subtext and current sociopolitical issues while at the same time highlighting the structure and function of quasi-healthy interpersonal relationships between two consenting adults. —LH

Yes. Slash fanfiction. That’s what I said. —Bill

The ask box will be opened again in December, readers, and I promise you Bill will be well-behaved and ready for it. —LH

Can I read your slash fanfiction when you’re done? —Bill

No. —LH